The EARN Maryland Program - Maryland’s new workforce training initiative

About EARN MD CONNECT

The Basics

EARN MD CONNECT is a web portal that allows organizations interested in the EARN Maryland Program to
find potential Strategic Industry Partners. EARN MD CONNECT is, simply, a tool to 1) facilitate the
discovery of potential organizational partners with whom to form Strategic Industry Partnerships (SIPs),
and 2) a platform where emerging and established SIPs can communicate, share information, and be found
by potential additional partners.

Importantly, EARN MD CONNECT is not a job search site for individual job
seekers. Rather, consistent
with the EARN Maryland Program’s approach, strategies for reaching and training potential employees will
be developed and implemented by the SIPs formed under the Program, and facilitated here on EARN MD CONNECT.
For more information on the EARN Maryland Program, please visit
www.earn.maryland.gov.

EARN MD CONNECT is designed to complement the overall EARN Maryland Program, and DLLR needs your help in
making this tool as useful as possible! By creating Organizational and Partnership Profiles within EARN
MD CONNECT, we will encourage the most efficient and effective use of EARN Maryland funds for the benefit
of employers and employees alike.

Who Should Use EARN MD CONNECT

EARN MD CONNECT is open to any organization interested in the EARN Maryland
Program, and is not limited to
EARN Maryland Planning Grant Applicants. Interested parties are welcome to apply for EARN Maryland Grants
whether they use EARN MD CONNECT or not. EARN MD CONNECT is offered only as a tool to make it easier for
parties to find and communicate with one another, to find ideas for potential partners and partnership projects,
to share information, and to provide a platform for potential workforce pipeline resources.

So whether you are already part of a Planning Grantee Partnership, in an emerging partnership with an eye
toward applying for implementation funds, or an interested organization hoping to join an emerging
partnership, we encourage your organization to explore EARN MD CONNECT. If you’re not sure whether EARN MD
CONNECT is right for your organization, you can browse limited Organizational and Partnership Profiles from
the home page before creating an account. To utilize the full functionality of the site, you will need to
create a Profile within EARN MD CONNECT. Just read the below to get started!

How it Works

EARN MD CONNECT enables two complementary functions. First, users can create Organizational Profiles
describing their function, focus, constituency, capacity, expertise, industry sector, workforce interests,
etc., and can then search for other organizations across regions, based upon these and other factors.
To get started, simply create an account on the EARN MD CONNECT homepage, and follow the prompts.
(Be sure
to verify your email address once you create an account so that you receive notifications and partnership
invites.)

Importantly, the user who creates a Partnership Profile will be that Profile’s Administrator, and will become
the only user able to invite and allow other users to join that Partnership Profile. Therefore, DLLR
encourages emerging SIPs, especially Planning Grant Applicant Groups, to agree upon the best person to serve
as Administrator before creating a Partnership Profile.

To create a Partnership Profile within EARN MD CONNECT, a user first needs to have created an Organizational
Profile. Then, simply click on the “Partnerships” tab on your profile page or click on the Partnership
button at the top of the screen, select “Create new partnership”, and follow the prompts.

We hope that EARN MD CONNECT will prove to be a useful tool for you. We are eager for your help in
populating this site, a cornerstone of the EARN Maryland Program.